Dripping Air
by Shipper Friendly
Summary: This is how Lily Evans realized who she was. This is how a group of friends changed each other's lives. From the author that brought you 'Look, Notes' and 'The Blog' comes a story about the way love can change you and make you better; or sometimes worse.
1. Preface: White Horse

**Okay. No multi-chapter story has come from my writing vault in a while, so here's something I hope you find interesting!**

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**Preface: White Horse**

**Song by Taylor Swift**

_Say your sorry that face of an angel comes out just when you need it to..._

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LILY POV

The wind pushed my hair in my face, covering my vision with streaks of red as I ran out of the Great Hall and on to the dock over the Black Lake. I stopped at the end and sat down. A tingling sensation overcame me as I dangled my feet into the cool water. I could feel the tears coming, slowly but painfully. They left ghosts of themselves to mark their appearances on my saddened face. I didn't bother wiping them off because I knew it would be obvious I had been crying anyways. I hunched my shoulders slightly and I could see my face looking back at me in the Black Lake. I didn't like the face looking back at me. A few tears fell into the lake and distorted the reflection.

"Lily?" A voice whispered from behind me. Before I turned around, I already knew who it was. James Potter. I knew he would try to find me in my moment of weakness. He would probably try to make a move on me when I was most vulnerable. It's typical.

"Go away. I don't want to talk." I said in an annoyed tone. Unfortunately, James always sees past the way my voice sounds. All he hears is the words, mostly when I don't want to talk to him.

"I know." He sat next to me, taking off his tan sandals and dipping his feet into the water with me.

"Why? Why do you always do this?" I buried my face into the darkness of my hands.

"Do what?"

"This! I tell you I don't want to talk and you sit down anyways!" I flung my arms out, narrowly missing James. He dodged it at the last second.

"Hey. I just want to sit with you! I never said I wanted to talk. I just want to listen." I realized that he was being earnest.

"Yes. But _I _said I didn't want to talk. Who are you going to listen to?"

"I figured you'd get sick of the silence and want to talk yourself." He leaned back on his elbows and looked forward. I had to admit, it was really sweet that he just wanted to hear me talk. But I was also annoyed. Can't he ever just leave me alone?

I hadn't realized neither of us had talked for a while until I heard James splash a bit of water around with his feet. I mus of looked pissed because when James turned to look at me, he blushed and ran his hand through his messy nest of hair..

"Sorry. I didn't mean to annoy you..." I almost felt bad for him. At that moment, I felt as though I owed James something for all these years of being cruel and unforgiving towards him.

"Okay. You want me to talk? I'll talk. But don't interrupt me." I glanced at James. His eyes lit up and he gave me a genuine smile that I rarely saw. "This morning, I was walking to the Great Hall for breakfast with Clare and Samantha. Well when we sat down, Severus walked over to where we were sitting before we even got to get our food."

Well he grabbed me and-and pulled me from the table. Clare and Sammie tried to protest but he glared at them and threatened them with his wand. He brought me to the hall and s-said 'Evans, don't you dare come near me again. I don't want you and the amature witches you call friends around me anymore'. And he slapped me. Severus _slapped _me. Across the face, too. We hadn't even bothered him. I don't know what he was talking about." My voice quivered a bit with anger. James nodded.

"Happy now? I told you. Now you can go brag to your friends that you got Lily Evans to talk." I leaned on my knees and sighed.

"Why would I brag about that? What is this image that you have set up in your mind of me? Do you _really _think that I would go out of my way just to get you to talk and then treat you as some sort of award to brag about?" James had a look of disgust written on his face.

"Well, yeah! I've always figured you just wanted the catch. Wanted the attention. I thought you wanted headlines that said 'James Potter Gets Stubborn Lily Evans Out Of Her Shell, Full Story Inside'. Isn't that how you and Sirius work? You want the catch, not the being."

"No Lily. Only Sirius works that way, and even he's growing out of it. This is why you should actually meet someone before putting a label on them." James shook his head and stood up. I stood up also. "You can't know everything, Lily. You've always been the 'good girl'. You've always wanted to keep yourself safe and make sure everything goes perfectly. Well, it doesn't. You can't always have things go smoothly, Lily! You've been telling me I'm arrogant and such a toe-rag, but the only time we talk is when you reject me or stick up your nose and walk away. You don't know me. You know the thing you've built me up to be. And I'm sick of it. I'm not gonna take anymore rejection. I think it's better if we just stayed away from each other." James picked up his sandals and walked away. Before he turned around, I could see that his face was red and his eyes were watery.

I couldn't help but feel helpless and confused. Was I really like that? Now that I thought about it, I always was a bit on the mean side to James. But I didn't know it was hurting him. I felt my lip quiver and I ran off towards where I had just came from, running from the faces of some girls who had skipped breakfast. I wished at that moment I could run from the face that was mine. But James Potter made sure I could never run away from that. I could've puked at that moment. I was absolutely disgusted with myself.

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**This is just the preface. Each chapter will be named after a song and it will have a bit of lyrics from the song under it :D. This story is dedicated to Clare and Samantha (or Sam or Sammie or whatever :D). Yes, they will make more appearances. Clare is awesome cos she wrote some pretty awesome songs ;)! Sam is awesome cos she loves Harry Potter and How I Met Your Mother, but come on. Marshall is sooo much cooler than Barney. **


	2. The Riddle

**Chapter two you all! For the banner and stuff of this story, go to my homepage on my profile. This is going to be a little lighter because Clare is based off my friend as you know, and she is a bit crazy :D.  
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**2. The Riddle **

**Five For Fighting  
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_Here's a riddle for you, find the answer. There's a reason for the world...you and I._

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CLARE POV

I was sitting in one of the coziest seats in the common room. The fire was burning and I was dozing off that Saturday morning when Lily stepped into the warm room, obviously trying to avoid anyone. She saw me and gave me a look that said 'I don't feel like talking' before running up to the Head dorms.

Of course, being the great friend I was, I went straight to the source of where the problem most likely was: James Potter. Shaking my head, I pushed open the portrait and raced down the hall to find Lily's mortal enemy. I noticed him and his friends out by the tree. Like always.

"JAMES POTTER!" I screeched. He jumped a bit and I _almost _smiled. I mean, what great friend would smile at the most selfish, arrogant, conceited...

"Clare, don't you start to rant now..." He sounded pained. James Potter, pained? What did he do now?

"Why? I bet you did something to Lily...she's really upset! What did you do, Potter?" I stuck a finger in his face. He pushed it away and looked down.

"Nothing." Remus and Sirius gave him a look. "Okay I really screwed up." He proceeded to tell me exactly how he ruined Lily's day.

"Potter, that's a new low for you. This has got to be a terrible day for her! First Snape slaps her, then you! You better apologize..."

"Well, I told her that we should stay away from each other." James looked as though he would burst out into tears any moment. I had never seen him so bad. I was about to hug him, but decided against it considering the position we were in. But then I realized what he did and turned angry. He had hurt Lily. He should've known what he was saying!

"Potter, you hurt my best friend. So don't expect me to be all lovey-dovey with you right now." I glared at James. He blinked, surprised because I hardly got mad unless it was serious. This was far too serious for jokes right now.

"Clare, love..." Sirius set his hand on my shoulder. I shrugged him off roughly and he looked down with a sheepish expression.

"Don't you 'love' me, Sirius! You're just as much of a jerk as James is right now!" I fought off the urge to hit him. For some reason, Sirius and I never got along well. He had always been the bad boy that I chose to ignore. But he always wanted to bother me. Hence, we don't get along. Remus and I weren't really close, but we were at least friends. Remus was always super quiet and so we never talked much. As for James, well I hated him mostly because of what I heard from Lily. I wasn't sure if all she said was true though.

"What did I do, Clare?" Sirius looked sober. The usual mischievous glint in his eyes was gone and I saw a tint of anger in those gray orbs of light.

"You just all around annoy me."

"But you said right now I was being a jerk..." I couldn't fight that. I waved him off and turned back to James. I heard Sirius give a sigh as to say 'I give up'. I tried to ignore it.

"Don't be mean to my friends. Especially Lily." I turned to walk away with the great sensation of getting the last word in when James said "It's not like she didn't deserve it."

That turned me around.

"What?!" My hand itched for my wand, but I fought with all my might to keep control of myself. "Lily didn't deserve to be totally isolated from you!"

"Deserve? It's what she wanted! Clare, I did her a favor by telling her this. Now she won't have to repeat it to me all the time." James stood up and walked a few steps toward me. The grass rippled as wind blew across the outside of Hogwarts. The day was wonderful, unlike our conversation. Sirius had sat beside Remus and was now looking at me as though I had totally crushed him. Remus was reading and obviously pretending he didn't know what was happening although I could see him glancing up every once in a while. I just noticed that the ruffling of the leaves on the tree wasn't from the wind but Peter who looked a little scared up on a medium high branch.

"No one deserves to be ignored or avoided by a friend." I took one step forward with caution. I could feel the anger pulsing through my veins as I almost drew my wand again. There was nothing I loved more than a good duel.

"We were never friends. She hated and still hates me." James clenched his fists and for a second I felt a twinge of fear. James wouldn't really beat me up, would he? No, James isn't like that. He was a calm person. Even when he was angry, he was unnaturally calm. I had witnessed many of James and Lily's fights to realize how calm he could be. When Lily was screaming her head off, it was usually James speaking in a nice, civilized voice.

I was afraid that would change today.

"James, she may have hated you then, but since you guys became heads-" He cut me off.

"Oh Merlin...I forgot about being heads! Oh no, this is going to be so awkward!"

"You better hope it is for you! You deserve it!"

"Hey, Hermansen, you wanna stop coming down here and telling us what we deserve?" Sirius said from against the trunk of the tree. He had called me by my last name. Sirius must have been really mad if he called me Hermansen.

"I-I-I'm here to defend Lily against James so just-just stay out of this, Black!"

"Lily is strong, she doesn't need your defenses." James said.

"How would you know? You've been nothing but mean and annoying to her every year!"

"Annoying, maybe. Mean? You've got to be kidding! I have tried every way possible of getting her attention and she's been turning me down in every cruel way possible. While I have been trying to be nice and charming she's been turning her head up at the sight of me and won't even look me in the eye! So before you say I'm mean, get you're facts straight. Lily doesn't always tell the truth."

"Who should I trust, you or Lily? I think my best friend." I turned to leave again. I had walked a few steps before Sirius yelled after me.

"Yeah, but how do you know who's yelling the truth?"

The words echoed in my head all the way up to castle.

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**The chapters will get longer I promise! I'll try to have chapters up every two days, depending on the length. Thanks for reading!**

**LIV  
**


	3. How to Save a Life

**I wrote this one in Social Studies (we were watching a movie so it was totally okay). I really think this song is great for this chapter.  
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**2. How to Save a Life**

**The Fray**

_Where did I go wrong I lost a friend. Somewhere along in the bitterness..._

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Samantha POV

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I heard about what happened with the Marauder's through Remus Lupin. He retold me the whole story, which I later solidified with Clare, including the part with Lily. I was sure James was over reacting about Lily crying, but when I later saw her with tear streaks running down her face for the briefest of moments, I knew James was telling the truth.

Remus and I are pretty good friends. I knew I could trust him, but what if they are tricking him? It was an outrageous thought, but it could happen. I shook that theory away as I saw a solemn looking James sit across from me at lunch. I tried to hide behind my straw colored hair but my bangs weren't long, so they fell short of my eyes, exposing the green circles. I regretted the decision to tie my elbow length hair back. I found James quite uncomfortable to be around when he was sad.

"Hello, Samantha." His voice was monotone. It surprised me.

"Hi, James." I said quietly. There was an awkward silence among us as we ate our sandwiched. Mine was piled high with turkey, ham, cheese, and tomato. James' was thin with only a slice of cheese and a small amount of turkey. I felt immense relief when Sirius strutted in with Clare following not long after. Sirius flipped his hair across his eyes so they fell halfway over them before sitting himself down next to James. Clare came over cautiously to my confusion and sat next to me without looking at James or Sirius.

"Prongs, mate. Don't be sad. Lily will come around." Sirius assured his best friend. I high doubted this statement. Lily could be very stubborn when she wanted to be. Right now, she most likely wanted to be. James surprisingly agreed with me.

"No, Sirius. I don't think she will this time." Without eating anything, which was high unusualy for James loved food, James walked out without his usual swagger to his walk. Before he left, I heard him utter "I really screwed up for good this time" before slowly walking out. I exchanged a worried glance with Clare.

"Sirius, how has James been acting today?" I asked with as much politeness I could muster up.

"Well after _Clare _came and had a chat with us, he's been even more quiet and sad." A flash of guilt passed Clare's face before she hid herself in her arms, dark blond hair fanning out over the table in her natural messy banana curls.

"Couldn't you have just said 'quiet and sad'?" I said, patting Clare on the back.

"Not when she's the cause of it!" Sirius snapped. I jumped back a bit, then glared at him.

"Hmph. You wonder why Clare calls you a jerk."

"Whatever, DeCroix." Sirius rolled his eyes. Wow, using my last name was really gonna make me mad. Nice job Sirius...not!

I sighed in frustation before grabbing my stuff and dragging Clare out of the Great Hall with me in a rush to get away from Sirius Black. Clare didn't seem to like this.

"Hey, I didn't get a chance to eat!" Clare cried once we were in the near deserted corridors.

"Did you want to be alone with _him_?"

"No, but I'm hungry." I sighed again.

"We'll find something to eat later." Clare gave in and we walked up to the Gryffindor common room to find Lily if we were lucky.

Well, it seemed I was out of luck today. The common room was empty, save two third years talking in deep conversation in the corner. We both sighed, me for the third time in ten minutes.

"How do we find her?" Clare turned to me with a hand on her hip. Her other hand was wrapped around her waist loosely. She looked very odd.

"How do I know?"

"Well you're a good thinker..." Sometimes Clare is not very helpful. "But I guess we could go ask Remus for the Marauder's Map."

"The _what_, now?" I never heard of this Marauder's Map, so I became more attentive. How did Clare know about it? She didn't speak to Remus often unless me or Lily was there.

"Lily told me Remus showed her this map James, Sirius, Peter, and him made called the Marauder's Map. It shows where everyone is at the moment." Sometimes Clare is brilliant.

"Great idea! But where's Remus?"

"Uhm...that's the problem. See, I don't know." Well it _was _a good plan.

"Okay there goes that idea..."

"Hey, I tried!" I couldn't argue that.

Suddenly, I remembered something.

"Let's check the dock. I can't believe we didn't think of this before. She loves to go out there when she's angry or sad." Clare smiled and we hurried out of the portrait to find our friend in need. On the way there, I remembered something.

"What did you tell the boys when you talked to them earlier?" Clare turned deep red.

"Just my mind..."

"Clare, _what _did you say to them, exactly?" I narrowed my eyes in suspicion at her.

"Okay! I told Sirius he was a jerk and I yelled at James cos Lily was crying!" She shouted. A few students turned to look for a few seconds before going back to their activities. I hushed her.

"What did he say?" I calmly asked. I was obviously better at keeping my composure than her.

"He said Lily was always the one being mean and that he never did anything bad to her." Clare's eyes got wide. "Do you think that's true?"

"I-I don't know Clare. Maybe." I was surprised. Was Lily the bad one here? She couldn't be. I've known her since I came from France in second year...Lily would never lie. Would she?

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**I'm sorry this chapter is short. You know how things seem longer on paper than electronically? Yeah...definitely applies here. I have a page of chapter 4 done so far. It'll be up by Sunday. :D**

**Liv  
**


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